Jimmy Trahin and his wife Judy stand in front of their trailer on the driveway of their home on the 14400-block of Cedarsprings Drive in Whittier on Monday April 29, 2019. The Trahin’s received notices from the city about parking their trailer on their property. (Photo by Keith Durflinger, Contributing Photographer)

For 25 years, Jimmy Trahin has been fighting Whittier City Hall over whether he can legally park his recreational vehicles on his own property — from a truckless camper to the 25-foot trailer now in his driveway.

The problem is city code bans parking or storage of boats and/or trailers in the front or side of a home, including driveways. That’s where Trahin parks his trailer, in the front, off to the side. The law is OK with drivable vehicles of equal size, such as a motor home.

Trahin, 72, and his wife, Judy, 71, are at it again, trying to persuade City Hall to allow them to park their 25-foot Outback trailer on their driveway. And so far, so good, because the City Council on April 9 voted to halt enforcement for six to nine months.

In that time, staff will study the city’s parking regulations on boats and trailers and find out what other cities do.

“This is the fourth time in for 25 years we’ve been fighting this,” Trahin said. Every time, city officials have backed off. The Trahins have lived in Whittier since 1960 and in their current home on Cedarsprings Drive since 1973, he said in a Monday interview.

“We just want to live out our last few years and enjoy our trailer,” said Trahin, who has had a tent trailer, camper, a motor home and now a trailer. “It would be one thing if we parked it on the street or we were living in it, but we’re not,” Trahin said.

Whittier police Capt. Aviv Bar said the ordinance dates back to the 1980s but is enforced on a complaint-only basis. Recreational vehicles, but not trailers, can be parked in a driveway as long as they don’t block the sidewalk, he added. The Police Department handles code enforcement issues for the city.

Trahin said he and his wife hit the road in their trailer, mostly to the Rocky Mountains to hunt, about six times a year.

“We always enjoy traveling to get way out in the middle of remote areas,” he said.

The answer isn’t to store his trailer off site, Trahin said.

The closest RV storage, in Pico Rivera, has a year’s waiting list and costs $120 a month. A Pomona site, which has space, would cost $125, a month, he said. Both are unaffordable, he added.

A retired Los Angeles police officer, Trahin first bought a camper, but in 1994, the city cited him, saying it was illegally stored in public view on his driveway.

“I went to the City Council with a bunch of people (in support) and later was told there would be no further action,” he said.

In 1997, he again was cited for parking a trailer in public view. And again, many RV owners came en masse to two City Council meetings. Once more, the city backed off, Trahin said.

Ditto 2005, he said.

Trahin isn’t the only Cedarsprings neighbor upset with getting the code enforcement warning.

“We’re homeowners and we should be able to keep our own trailers as long as we’re not interfering with the sidewalk or anybody else’s property,” said Robert Campos, 63, and a U.S. mail carrier.

“I’ve checked with surrounding cities — Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs, La Mirada and Commerce — and all of them don’t have a problem as long you’re on your own property,” Campos said. “It’s not about one person. It’s about hundreds of people.”

Mike Sprague started at the Whittier Daily News in April 1984. Since then, Sprague has covered every city in the Whittier Daily News circulation area, as well as political and water issues. Sprague received a bachelor's degree in communications and a master's degree in political science, both from Cal State Fullerton.